Is SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) a Strong ETF Right Now?

Launched on 09/28/2011, the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Industrials ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $4.11 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Industrials ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index represents the aerospace & defense sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Stock Market Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Global Select Market. The Aerospace & Defense Index is a modified equal weight index.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.49%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector - about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Kratos Defense + Security (KTOS) accounts for about 5.43% of total assets, followed by Rocket Lab Corp (RKLB) and Bwx Technologies Inc (BWXT).

The top 10 holdings account for about 40.56% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, XAR has gained about 35%, and was up about 46.83% in the last one year (as of 09/16/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $144.94 and $223.54.

The ETF has a beta of 1.12 and standard deviation of 20.59% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 39 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF (PPA) tracks SPADE Defense Index and the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index. Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF has $6.36 billion in assets, iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF has $9.31 billion. PPA has an expense ratio of 0.57% and ITA changes 0.38%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Industrials ETFs

Bottom Line

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research